MUSIC REVIEW; Poignant and Hulking, A New Rigoletto

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Before the Saturday matinee performance of Verdi's "Rigoletto" at the New York City Opera, there were telltale signs that the company's mind was elsewhere. As the orchestra warmed up, amid the din of Verdian fragments you could hear various players practicing riffs from Hindemith's three-hour opera "Mathis der Maler," with which the company had opened its season on Thursday night in trying circumstances and to generally poor reviews.

On Saturday, the contributions of the orchestra and chorus seemed dispirited, despite the excellent efforts of Joseph Colaneri, the conductor, who paced Verdi's score with dramatic savvy and chose effective tempos, measured enough to allow breathing room, but directed and supple.

But where it mattered most, the performance delivered: the Rigoletto of Mark Delavan was impressive. Mr. Delavan has an uncommonly warm and enveloping baritone sound. His voice is strongest where most Rigolettos are weak, in his sturdy lower range. His top range can be a bit covered, though at the end of his "Pari siamo" soliloquy he dispelled his fears of dire omens for his daughter with a ringing high G.

Dramatically, Mr. Delavan's Rigoletto was no pathetic hunchback. He used his large physique to make the jester a hulking, physically threatening fellow. You could understand why the Duke's obsequious courtiers, tired of Rigoletto's incessant barbs, want to teach him a lesson. But when he pleaded with his housekeeper to guard his beloved daughter, Gilda, at all times, Mr. Delavan shaped Verdi's plaintive melody with affecting poignancy.

But for occasional moments when her tone turned a bit hard-edged in mid-range, Patricia Johnson, as Gilda, sang with exceptional clarity and coloratura agility. Her Gilda was a curious young woman whose sensual longings had been unwisely repressed by her well-meaning but foolishly secretive father. As the rapacious Duke who seduces her, Brian Nedvin, a tenor, was making his company debut. Perhaps nervousness was a factor: his performance was uneven and hard to evaluate. His voice is basically bright and resonant, but he still seems to be learning how to handle it. Top notes were sung with effort; his phrasing was sometimes inelegant.

This familiar production, devised and directed by Tito Capobianco, is not aging well. The staging is busy and obvious. During the ball scene, the rakish Duke is grouped by scantily clad women in color-coordinated veils.

Sparafucile was Mikhail Krutikov, a strong bass from the Bolshoi Opera, suffering no ill effects from having made his company debut on Thursday in "Mathis der Maler." RIGOLETTO Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after Victor Hugo's "Roi S'amuse"; conductor, Joseph Colaneri; production by Tito Capobianco; stage director, Cynthia Edwards; sets and costumes by Carl Toms; lighting by Ken Tabachnick; choreography by Esperanza Galan. Performed by the New York City Opera at the New York State Theater. WITH: Patricia Johnson (Gilda), Brian Nedvin (Duke of Mantua), Mark Delavan (Rigoletto), Robynne Redmon (Maddalena), Joseph Corteggiano (Count Monterone), Mikhail Krutikov (Sparafucile), Julia Anne Wolf (Giovanna), Dianna Heldman (Countess Ceprano), Jonathan Green (Borsa), James Bobick (Marullo) and William Ledbetter (Count Ceprano).

A version of this review appears in print on September 12, 1995, on Page C00014 of the National edition with the headline: MUSIC REVIEW; Poignant and Hulking, A New Rigoletto. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe